China's national anti-pornography and anti-piracy office on Tuesday launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on false news reports, unauthorized publications and bogus journalists in order to "maintain the credibility of news media and safeguard the public interest".

Liu Binjie, vice director of the office, said officials would thoroughly inspect the market of newspapers and periodicals across the country, crack down hard on illegal publications and correcting publishing "irregularities" during the two-month campaign.

"The campaign aims to clamp down on illegal news coverage and eliminate any spread of false news," said Liu, also director of the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).

It would also clamp down on unauthorized newspaper branch offices in which people without press cards took bribes or extort money from local companies in return for favorable news coverage.

Zi Beijia, a temporary employee of the Beijing Television Station, who fabricated a news item on Beijing dumpling makers using cardboard as a filling, was on Sunday sentenced to one year in jail with a fine of 1,000 yuan for the crime of "commodity defamation".

(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2007)